THIS EDITION OF WEBSITE WATCH WILL TAKE A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ANGLE, CONSIDERING HOW TO ‘WATCH A WEBSITE’ AND ESTABLISH ITS CREDIBILITY – A KEY SKILL IN THIS AGE OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD.
Learners today have become used to finding information as and when they want it, usually at their fingertips, literally, and mostly on their mobile phones. But how many of them ever stop to evaluate what they are reading there or assess to what extent the information may be credible or not? This important aspect of digital literacy is a vital part of education today.
There are many aspects of a website that can be quickly evaluated and a few key ones are outlined below:
Author: Who is the author? Are names given and if so, what do you know about them and their credentials? Can you search for them and find out more about other things they have written, their backgrounds, their expertise, or lack of it? Any site that does not give an author’s name should be treated with caution.
Publisher or organization: Who is putting this material out there? Do they take responsibility for what is on the site? What other organizations are they affiliated to – check for links to other sites.
Currency: Is there a date and how up-to-date is the information that has been posted?
Accuracy: Can the information be checked elsewhere, and if so, is it correct?
Purpose and bias: What is the purpose of the site or the article? Is it to persuade you to do or buy something? Is it just to inform or is there some other agenda at work? Is the language filled with emotion? Are there advertisements and are they trying to sell something?
Original: Is the material original or has it been reproduced from somewhere else? If so, has that original source been acknowledged? (Adapted from www.easybib.com)
Based on the responses to these questions, one can go a long way to determining if the site is credible or not. Get your students to share examples from websites they regularly use, and evaluate them amongst one another, using these criteria. Discuss the implications of dubious sites and the impact of incorrect or misleading information. Let them talk about social media sites in particular.